Arghhhh
Snapped a bolt in my cylinder head when I was tightening the valve cover.
Didn't break to the cover, broke the bolt.
Tried drilling it out but not working. those are strong little bolts.

I have extractor bits but forgot, do I drill them in clockwise or counterclockwise?
I've never installed a helix coil before but I'm thinking I may have stripped the threads drilling so I'll have to do that too

Help and comments please, need to know best way to proceed.

Manual said 9 ft/lb but that felt too tight so I was wrenching them less (thinking my torque wrench must be off..)
tightening in sequence and the LAST bolt snapped even before it felt as tight as the others.

 

Oh that sucks!
Extractors will only screw in backward, so the broken bolt will come out. As long as you have is the right sized hole, the extractor will work.
You can buy reverse twist drill bits that only cut when the drill is in reverse. Sometimes, just drilling out the bolt with a reverse twist drill will spin the bolt out.

Helicoils come with a special tap be sure to use the correct drill bit with it, get the bit with the Helicoil and follow the directions on the package. Helicoils can be stronger than the original threads.

Dave

 

Valve cover fasteners don't have to stay one size like plugs. Just drill it out, tap a bit bigger and use the right bolt. For drilling metal, just go very very slow. Once you spin fast and heat the drill it is garage. Slow, make tinsel, tap and go.

 

arghhh again
when I tried drilling it out, the bit must have been dull, because it was not cutting (no tinsel). So I gunned the drill. Guess thats why it looks melted in there.

guess the bottom line is going to put a helicoil in, will make sure I get full directions.
thanks for the input, appreciate it. I'll let you know how it goes

 

Just a follow up on what worked...
the bolt was broken off below the surface of the cylinder head
and it was jagged, and trying to extract by drilling or extractor bit
didnt' work, because the drill tip kept slipping off the bolt

used a dremel, ground the bolt to a concave surface, then was able to drill thru the bolt. Placed a helicoil and presto--was able to use the original size bolt (I did use all new hardware with hex head bolts--both valve cover and intercooler)

was a pia till I figured it out, then piece of cake
thanks!

 

Congrats!

 

Were you replacing the head? Reason I ask is that my daughter's 02 that she got 4 months ago with only 72k on it blew out the #2 plug. The mechanic tried to do a heli coil, but the aluminum crumbled. Need a new head and got a price of $5k to repair. It's in my garage and I will be replacing myself. What's a good manual to use to guide me in the head replacement. Does anyone know if I can use a head from an 03 or newer?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm a new member and despite my daughter's set back, my wife still wants a Coop as a summer driver.

 

I also didn't tighten mine to that torque, because it just felt too tight. Went with a little blue threadlocker just to be safe. Sorry to hear one of yours broke! What a pain...

My question is this: I did not tighten my bolts in sequence. (Didn't have a manual, and didn't think about a sequence.) I just went around with my final torque in a logical circle, after tightening them all most of the way. Does anyone know what problems this could cause?

 

If it doesn't leak, no problem.

The inside out method is just to try and flatten the gasket so there isn't a bulge in the middle that leaks. With modern materials these days, it isn't as much of an issue as with cork gaskets that are much more tender.

 

Any non s head from a r50 should work...that is tru 2006, or 2008 if it is from a non s r52 cabrio....
a bently manual for a mini is the way to go imo.

 

The instructions I followed for the tightening sequence was one right after another, in line. Stupid thing is leaking. I never failed on a gasket install before, so wondering what I did wrong...